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Setting The Scene - Chapter Six |
| Written by Dan Greathead | |
| Tuesday, 25 September 2007 | |
"We have to leave, now!" Pete was adamant. "K, fire up our ship, we're leaving. Dan, J.D., you're coming with us. I'm not having you guys get into **** for hiding us. Get what you need loaded up, there's plenty of room." K was already in the engine room, fiddling with various dials that most people would have no idea about. She had attached the new parts that J.D. had given to her. Her favorite was the Half-Light drive, so called because it would propel a vessel to half the speed of light, although it was yet to be tested. Trixi was with her, watching, learning, and the intercom buzzed. Pete's voice came through clearly. "Trixi, I need you up here," Trixi immeadeatly left and headed to the bridge. She arrived a minute or so later, breathless. "Exit strategy," barked Pete, without looking up. "Any idea's?" Trixi looked at the radar. She could see quite clearly that the sky above them was littered with ships. "They're not Parliament. The codes are slightly different, but they're incripted." Pete explained. "From what I can gather though, they have orders to take us alive."
"We can cloak, right?" asked Trixi.
"Yeah,"
"Then cloak, right now." Pete did so. "OK, now take her up. Hit four hundred feet and drop an escape pod."
"But we only have one," Pete argued.
"Do you want to get out of here," Pete nodded, and pressed the intercom.
"Are we missing anyone?" he said over the Com. There was no response. "Good, then we're leaving." Pete took the ship up. One hundred... Two hundred... "OK, we're at three hundred feet, preparing to jetison pod."
"Remove the cloak." Trixi ordered.
"What?"
"Remove the cloak," she repeated.
"Why?" Pete was confused.
"Just remove the ******* cloak!" Trixi repeated again. "It'll confuse them. Two vessels decloaking at the same time four hundred feet in the air, they won't know whats what. Do it!" And this time, Pete did.
Far away on Omega, it was night. Night on Omega was cold. Very few people ventured outside unless it was absolutely essential, but someone was outside, someone who shouldn't have been. Someone had escaped from the Ironman Institute, the asylum.
"I need more K, you gotta' give me more!" Pete yelled into the Com.
"I'm giving you everything, she's got nothing else!" Came the reply.
"Well we're losing ground, we have to have more!" Pete wrestled with the controls.
"K, use the Half-Light," said Trixi into the Com.
"No, it's not been tested. It could work, or it could blow us outta' the sky!"
"It's a risk we gotta' take." Yelled Trixi. "Get it prepped." Within moments, Kay was back on the Com.
"OK, we're good to go," then, as an afterthought. "I think." Pete engaged the Half-Light, and the ship instantly disappeared from the sky. This confused their persuers, and not knowing what to do, they headed back to Prima to search through the wreckage of the escape pod.
"Well that was bracing," said Dan, walking onto the bridge. "Now does someone want to tell me what the **** just happened?" Pete and Trixi were silent, offering no explanation. "Anytime you're ready would be great."
"All I can tell you is that the ship's intact, and everything's still working normally," said Pete, pouring over the scanners.
"No," said Trixi. "Everything isn't alright."
"What do you mean?" asked Pete. "We're all still alive aren't we?" He glanced at Dan. "I don't know about you mate, but I consider everything else to be a bonus." Pete looked again at his console. The scanners were sending back distressingly unfamiliar readings, and Pete began to look incredibly worried, his smile dropping from his face.
"What is it?" asked Dan. Pete motioned for Dan to look at the console. A few moments later, Dan wore the same look as Pete. "Where the **** are we?"
"When?" said Trixi.
"When? What do you mean, when? What sort of a question is that?"
"No," said Trixi, calmly. "Where we are isn't a concern. I know exactly where we are, but I don't know when." Pete rested his hand gently on Trixi's leg.
"Sweetie, you're not making any sense," he said as unpatronisingly as he could.
"Then listen to me as I say this," said Trixi, getting agitated. She shrugged Pete's hand off her knee. "We have moved through time. The Half-Light not only sent us through Space at a high speed, it broke through the fabric of Time as well. Are we getting this? Time and Space, Space and Time." It took a minute or two for this information to sink in.
"But that's not possible. Everyone knows that to break the Time barrier, a velocity twice the speed of light has to be reached." Pete spoke eventually, a large hint of disbelief in his voice. "There's not a man alive who can build a ship that can take that speed, let alone anyone who can develop the technology to go that fast."
"I could," replied Trixi. "and if I could do it, that means theres a very large chance that someone else is able to as well."
"That's bullshit," Pete and Dan spoke in unision.
"Then you figure it out," Trixi was still incredibly calm. "You figure out why the scanner shows that we're in orbit around Europa."
"Europa, one of the Jupiter moon's?" Dan was not only looking worried, he had a look of fear on his face.
"Exactly," Trixi let this sink in, and then said. "Next, you can tell me why the scanners show the year two thousand five!"
Copyright 2007 Dan Greathead {moscomment} |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 27 September 2007 ) |
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